Scheduling Fundamentals
Construction Schedule
A construction schedule is the planned sequence and timing of every activity needed to complete a project, showing what work happens when, in what order, and how each task depends on the ones before and after it.
Definition
A construction schedule -- most commonly built and maintained in Oracle Primavera P6 -- breaks a project down into individual activities (e.g. 'Pour Foundation', 'Erect Structural Steel Frame'), each with a planned start date, finish date, and duration. Activities are connected by relationships (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Finish) that define what has to happen before what can begin. The schedule is periodically updated as work progresses -- actual start/finish dates get recorded, percent complete gets reported, and remaining durations get re-forecast -- so at any point the schedule reflects both what's already happened and what's still projected to happen.
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Example
A general contractor issues a monthly schedule update showing that 'Rough-In Electrical' is now 60% complete with an actual start of two weeks ago, while its downstream activity 'Drywall Installation' has its forecast start pushed back to reflect that delay.